


Back to Bury the Hatchet

by Moosechip11



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: All of the Magics, Alternate Universe - Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Earp squad in DND style fantasy, F/F, F/M, Multi, Swords, sorcery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:27:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24230563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moosechip11/pseuds/Moosechip11
Summary: Wynonna and Waverly Earp have been adventuring together since they left Purgatory years ago, to... varying levels of success. News of their long estranged sister's mysterious death calls them back to Purgatory. They meet a new friend, and an old flame.The Earp Squad live in a D&D style medieval fantasy setting, there are swords, boards, more swords, sorcery, armor, bows, arrows, maybe even a halberd or two.
Relationships: Nicole Haught & Doc Holliday, Waverly Earp & Wynonna Earp, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Wynonna Earp/Doc Holliday
Comments: 23
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Waverly had second watch. As she waited for the night to slowly dissipate, her mind wandered over the events of the past few months. Wynonna and she had been traveling across the Coast, finding whatever meager work that would be tossed their way. It wasn’t anything too exciting, clearing out the occasional mine shaft full of gnolls, fending off bandits, clearing out rat infestations, and when money got tight, manual labor on farms. Waverly knew there had to be something exciting in their fates; it didn’t seem right, a cleric of knowledge and, well, whatever Wynonna was, cleaning pig stys for a few coppers. Waverly sighed. Well, it could be worse, she supposed, thinking briefly of her childhood with Willa. Sometimes she still felt guilty that Wynonna had chosen to leave with Waverly for a rather unglamorous lifestyle as an adventurer as opposed to staying at the homestead in Purgatory. It had been years now, she thought, and it seemed as though they weren’t getting anywhere. Never more than a few gold in their pocket, never staying more than a week in any one place. It was getting tiresome.

The sun was starting to poke through the trees, and Waverly gently roused Wynonna. She was never very talkative in the morning, and they drank their coffee next to the campfire in silence. 

“I think we should go back to Mever.” Wynonna said. “We always have more luck in the big cities.”

“After being chased out by the guards? I’m okay never going back there after you started a riot for gods’ sakes.”

“Ahh, they’ve probably forgotten about it by now, it’s been months! Besides, only a few people died.”

“One of whom was the Marquis’ nephew. I say we go inland a bit further.”

“What’s inland besides more of the same monotony we’ve been slogging through? Come on Waves, I still don’t understand why we can’t go adventuring on the seas. It would at least be a change of scenery.”

“For the last time Wynonna, we are not becoming pirates.”

“Then… Pirate fighters! That doesn’t sound right. Pirate hunters!”

“How the fuck would we even get a boat, Wynonna.”

“By going to Mever, obviously.”

Waverly sighed, exasperated. There was no stopping Wynonna when she got like this. It was like an irrepressible spirit that got inside her and couldn’t be talked down, no matter what logical argument she faced. Like how could they afford a ship that could even theoretically take on a pirate ship. But, Mever was a few days journey, and a pleasant one at that. Maybe a few days on the road would sort her out. If not, they would probably end up on some ill-advised plan that Wynonna dragged her on to commandeer a ship. By themselves.  
…

By the time the two reached the massive gates of the port city, Wynonna still had those stars in her eyes. It was one of the things Waverly loved most about Wynonna, after everything that had happened in their crap childhood, after years of not so successful adventuring, Wynonna was somehow, still, an incurable optimist.

“Alright, We’ve got about ten gold, that’ll last us a while at one of the cheaper taverns, and we’ll ask around about work. Maybe there’ll be something good.” Wynonna said, excitedly, rubbing her hands together as the guards let them in. Wynonna had used her strange magic to disguise herself as a half elven man, and no one had stopped them yet.

Neither sister knew much about Wynonna’s magic, and only could make assumptions about a connection to Peacemaker, the only family heirloom that they kept when they left Purgatory. The sword would appear in Wynonna’s hand at her whim, so while Waverly could find no record of the sword’s existence in historical records, there was obviously some kind of connection to the strange magic that was somehow not fully divine or arcane in origin.

They came upon the Splurging Sturgeon, the inn that they had previously stayed in. The tavern keep was an elderly half orc in simple clothing with impressive mutton chops. Wynonna, now in her element, immediately sat at the bar.

“Whiskey, leave the bottle.”

Waverly sat next to her. The tavern keep slammed down two shot glasses and a bottle of very cheap whiskey. He leaned down towards Waverly and squinted.  
“Have I seen you in here before?”

Waverly looked worriedly at Wynonna, wondering if he remembered her connection to the famous Wynonna Earp, disturber of peace.

“Yeah, are you an Earp? I got a letter here for an Earp.”

That was unusual. No name adventurer’s like them rarely got mail. It was just impractical, as they never stayed in one place and most certainly did not have an address.

“Um… yes, I’m Waverly Earp.”

“Aye, well let me fetch it for ya.”

The barkeep was gone for a frankly baffling amount of time, and the two sisters were almost done with the bottle by the time he slid a grubby looking letter that was stained with… something.

“Came yesterday, otherwise I’d a forgotten ‘bout it.”

Waverly murmured her thanks, slipping a silver piece his way. 

“What’s that? We don’t get letters.” An impressively only tipsy Wynonna asked.

Waverly ripped it open. The letter looked official, even more odd.

Lady Earp,  
I regret to inform you that your sister, Willa Earp, has died. The Purgatory Wardens are investigating the incident. The remains of the deceased will be buried according to Purgatory customs on the 20th of March. As the deceased does not have any other family, you may collect their belongings at the Wardens’ headquarters.  
My condolences,  
Warden Nedley of Purgatory

Waverly looked up at Wynonna, her expression unreadable. She handed her sister the letter wordlessly and drank another shot quickly. She watched Wynonna closely, seeing her expression harden and fall slightly. Wynonna crushed the paper and buried her face in her hands, for the first time in a long time, she was speechless. Waverly didn’t know what to feel for herself, so she felt only concern for her sister. She led the both up to their rented room, and just sat on the bed with her for hours. Neither sister had shed a tear.

Finally, Wynonna spoke up, her voice quiet. 

“Well, I guess we have to go back to Purgatory.”


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Purgatory was thankfully only a few days journey south of Mever. Wynonna had gotten significantly quieter than normal, and it was worrying Waverly. She had broached the subject of Willa a few times, only to be brusquely brushed off followed by her walking faster and leaving Waverly, with shorter legs, to jog walk to catch up to her. While Waverly and Willa’s relationship had been… tense, to say the least, Wynonna had had a close friendship with her. Waverly knew that Wynonna was just compartmentalizing her emotions to an extreme degree. The suddenness of the news had come as a shock to both of them. Not a notice of sickness or injury, nope, just straight to the death. 

Waverly wasn’t sure how she was supposed to feel. Her memories of Willa were not happy ones. She remembered the time when her big sister had drawn and quartered her favorite stuffed rabbit while she begged her to stop. Well, she wasn’t a cleric of a forgiving god, so maybe she could be absolved of daring to think ill of the dead. It was almost improbable that in her entire childhood, Waverly couldn’t think of a single instance where Willa had been genuinely kind to her. She could remember the happiness on her face when she was with Wynonna or Daddy, but whenever Waverly was there, Willa would act as if an infectious disease was present. She could empathize with Wynonna’s grief, if it could be called that, she just couldn’t sympathize, she supposed. She just hoped to get this over with so that she could get her Wynonna back.

They entered the woods that signaled to them that they were getting close to the Ghost River Triangle. It was a dark and wet forest with ground that would very nearly swallow your foot if you lingered in one spot. Thick vines hung from trees and moss covered every surface. If it got any wetter, Waverly reckoned that it would be a swamp. Though it was still the afternoon, the canopy blocked out most of the sunlight. Of course they didn’t take the main road, Waverly silently fumed. Heavens forbid they take an extra day on the long way round this mess.

“It’s really not that bad,” Wynonna said, a little too cheerily.

Waverly glared at her as she used both arms to pull her foot out of the mud.

“I mean, all I’m saying is it could be much worse. There could be giant rats or all manner of dangers! We haven’t come across anything larger than a squirrel in here.”

“Oh good, now we’ll probably come across a dracolich or something. Thanks for that.”

As it turns out, Wynonna did jinx it, just a bit prematurely. It was about an hour later when they stopped to take a short rest, standing on solid roots to avoid the mud. Leaning against the tree, Wynonna took out her flask, took a swig, and passed it over. 

“Look, Wynonna, before we get there, I wanted to tell you something.”

“It’s fine, Waves, I’m fine, let’s just get to Purgatory. I’m cold and covered in mud and I want this to be over.” She looked down. “She wasn’t a good sister. But she was our sister, the last of the Earps, and I’m going to find out how she died and make someone fucking pay for it. And then, after we put her in the ground, I want to be a fucking pirate. So let’s get out of this godsforsaken wood and get this over with.”

As Wynonna stepped back into the mud, the root she was standing on curled and slammed into her back, sending her face down into the mud ten feet away.

“Wynonna!” Waverly screamed, running to her side and helping her up.

“I’m good with us never discussing this in the future.”

The tree’s root whipped back into the ground and made a deep groaning noise. The roots around the base of the tree began writhing like a pit of snakes. The massive oak lurched and began to move at an objectively slow pace (if it weren’t a tree) towards the sisters.

“This is new,” Waverly gasped, scrabbling back and pulling out her holy symbol, a small pendant with a detailed depiction of the dripping eye of the knowing mistress.

Before either could move out of the way, the tree slammed another root at them, this time landing just between them as they scrambled to each side. Waverly backed away as fast as she could in the thick mud, ducking under a swinging branch. She muttered a few words under her breath and a flash of golden light burst from her outstretched hand and slammed into the tree. A large blackened circle appeared on its bark from where it hit, and a light radiant glow surrounded the trunk. 

At her whim, a pristine longsword appeared in Wynonna’s hand. With wrath in her mind, she brought a mighty blow upon the trunk. The cut barely sliced through the bark, but the sword channeled dark necrotic energy into her foe, black spidery veins spread out like a web from the impact point. The tree recoiled and almost seemed to be wary of her. 

The Awakened Tree was hesitant as it attempted to slam into Wynonna again. Getting her footing back however, she easily sidestepped the slow root. It did appear to steel itself (if you could tell such a thing) and reared back to strike again. Waverly moved to gain a clear view on the tree and beseeched her god for aid. At her words, a large spectral Morningstar appeared in the air next to their foe. It missed entirely, because of course it does, and Waverly glared at it. She attempted to ignite the canopy in radiant fire. The moss-covered canopy caught in holy fire and began to burn.

Seeing the Tree prepare to attack, Wynonna quickly spoke a few arcane words. Her form began to blur, shifting and wavering. Despite this, the tree slammed its entire trunk into her flickering body, knocking her unconscious.  
Waverly screamed out her name and rushed to face the tree. She reared back with her bare fist and slammed it into the tree, channeling her righteous anger: “Photosynthesize this, you shit ticket!” Black necrosis spread from her fist to throughout the entire tree. It groaned even louder than before, as if in pain. The damaged oak attempted another attack, and knocked the breath out of her lungs.

Waverly reached down to tap Wynonna on the shoulder, quickly healing her. The warm magic caused Wynonna’s broken ribs to snap back into place and she inhaled deeply, conscious once more. She staggered to her feet and threw her entire body into hacking with Peacemaker. She slammed the sword into the trunk where the dark necrotic wound that Waverly left was; once, twice. As the sword was buried deep on the second strike, the tree shuddered and groaned, and settled into the dirt, motionless. Wynonna yanked her sword out, flipped it, dismissing it to wherever it came from. She heavily sat down, where Waverly joined her a moment later.

“I can’t believe we almost got our asses handed to us by a fucking tree of all things,” Wynonna sighs, resting her head against their fallen foe. 

“Yeah, my last words were almost ‘Photosynthesize this.’ I would have had to come back as a revenant just to redeem myself.”

“Gods, you said that?! Amazing.” 

They rested there for a while, catching their breath and binding their wounds before continuing their pilgrimage to Purgatory. If they didn’t run into any aggressive flora, they would reach the town by nightfall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, trees, the quintessential Wynonna Earp villain. Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for non graphic discussion of suicide.

Chapter 3 

Purgatory was a dingy town, despite being the intersection of few different trade routes. There was a disproportional amount of crime for the relatively small population, due to a combination of a lucrative spice ring, unrestricted gambling, prostitution, drinking, and the resident Knight’s continued refusal to fund the local Wardens beyond the absolute bare minimum. With the main production in the town being livestock, poor farmers were eager to escape their monotonous lives with no hope of advancement in stature by indulging in the more carnal pleasures of life. The population was largely human, with a small contingent of halflings that held their own in the farming industry. 

Willa Earp had grown up with her two younger sisters on a run-down former cattle farm. Their father, Ward, had been the head Warden for years when he died. The fever that took him had been sudden, leaving three young girls to look after themselves, their mother having left years prior. The two oldest sisters had almost immediately gotten involved in the spice trade, local distribution and the like. Despite his best efforts, the new warden, Nedley, could not dissuade them from an illegitimate lifestyle. He wasn’t sure what had changed, but around six years prior, both Willa’s sisters had up and vanished one night, apparently to seek their fortune out on the road. He hadn’t heard anything since. Willa had continued to be a thorn in his side, but he never expected anything like this.

He had taken over Ward’s job when he died, and had done about as well as could be expected, given a force that rarely exceeded more than ten people at any one time in a town that was, from a law enforcement perspective, cursed. With vice at every corner, the Wardens had to prioritize where they could, and let go where they could stomach. They had to go to risky calls alone and handle volatile situation with little hope of timely backup. With the pay being shit and the job becoming increasingly dangerous, only fools would guard in Purgatory. Fools and people who couldn’t bring themselves to work anywhere else. Nedley was the latter, but most of his people were the former. Except Haught. She had come to Purgatory five years ago and had proven herself to be an exceptional Warden. She showed an unparalleled empathy to the citizens and followed the law and protocol like her life depended on it. Which, if anything, was Nedley’s only concern about her. He wanted her to replace him, but he knew from personal experience that if you wanted to survive, you had to live with more than a little compromising. In Purgatory, fighting for order meant killing just about every altruistic part of yourself that you could bear, just to prevent others from doing it to you first.

She walked into his office, a small and rather sad stone chamber that held little more than his desk and was poorly lit by a few low burning torches. Her armor was slightly too small for her tall form, Nedley mused. It was, like all in the Warden’s guild, older than she was; well cared for, but still worn and scratched over every square inch. It was ring mail, the most inefficient armor that could possibly be manufactured. It resembled basic leather armor but had large metal rings sewn into it. It was way too heavy and provided substandard protection to even nonmetal armors. But, it was cheap and simple to make, which was why it was the mainstay in the Purgatory Wardens.

“Nedley?” the guard asked, “I heard that Willa Earp died. I also heard it happened days ago. Why didn’t I hear about this?”

He sighed. Obviously, she was going to find out. It was too small of a force to keep anything a secret, especially not the death of one of their biggest troublemakers.

“It was a suicide, and I’ve closed the case. You had that fight down at Shorty’s, and with Champ being involved, I figured you had enough on your plate, Haught.”

“You closed it? That quickly? How could you have possibly investigated enough for even a cursory inquiry into a death?” The last one we had took a month and a half! I know we’ve been stretched thin here lately, but we can’t just brush off cases of this importance!”

“Look, Haught, I need you to trust me on this one. It’s a special case, and I’m taking care of it. Officially, and as far as you are concerned, Willa Earp killed herself. End of story.”

“So what you’re telling me is that you’re not investigating it, at all?” Nicole seemed genuinely confused.

“What I’m telling you is that the case is closed. I’m handling it in an off the books capacity. There’s no need to complicate this further. Don’t you have a bar fight report to submit?”

She left, looking too bemused to argue any further. He was in a very precarious position. If he couldn’t bring a watertight case to Lord Loblaw, the wardens were even more fucked than before.

He opened a drawer in his desk. Inside sat an unopened envelope with a familiar seal. He took it out and stared at it. Several arguments played out inside his head. With it, the safety of his wardens. Of Nicole. Without it, sleep at night. He thought about what she would do. She always seemed so… sure that the law was just. Right. That there was no other option. That the established rules of morality superseded any one person’s code of ethics. Even though she couldn’t afford her own place with the salary he gave her, she never once complained or even asked for a raise, not that he could give one to her. She had to live with that… scoundrel. Why she liked him Nedley would never understand.

Just then he heard a commotion outside in the lobby. He dropped the letter into the drawer and quickly closed it. Rushing outside, he saw two faces he never thought he would lay eyes on again, even having sent out the obligatory notice letters to major city taverns. Wynonna and Waverly Earp; much older, yes, but still full of that indomitable fire that always got that family into trouble. Wynonna was currently yelling at Lonnie, who looked extremely out of his depth, while Waverly stood next to her, saying nothing. Nedley walked over, to be met with a death glare from Wynonna.

“Nedley! Still here I see. What’s this bullshit about us not being able to see our sister’s body?!”

“Just protocol, Wynonna, we’re still investigating, and the body is still evidence.”

“Oh yeah? And what, exactly, have you found out?”

Nedley sighed. They weren’t going to buy this at all. “Suicide. Lonnie here found her hanging in the Homestead. Cause of death is asphyxiation.”

“You know damn well as I do that Willa would never do such a thing! Even at her lowest, she thought way to highly of herself for that!” Wynonna had walked up to him and was speaking way too close to his face for his comfort.

“You’ve been gone a long time, Earp, People change. Now you have my sincerest condolences, but my shift just ended. I suggest you both find someplace to stay tonight that isn’t a cell.” 

Nedley nodded to Waverly, who was staring at the floor, and walked back into his office, closing the door.

He watched them both leave through his office window. He didn’t see Haught follow them out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That moment when Wayhaught is about to meet and you realize you have no idea how to write romance.


	4. Chapter4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry this took so long, You've heard my excuses before if you've read any fanfic; tech stuff, work stuff, house stuff, pandemic stuff, blah blah. Let's just say 2020 has continued to somehow be the polar opposite of a natural 20 on a disadvantage roll. But hey, the show came back, so things are looking up.

Nicole followed the two figures from a good 30 or so feet away, trying not to attract attention to herself. She wasn’t sure why she was following them; perhaps it was the very fact that she had no idea what was going on. All she knew was that she needed more information. She had been in Purgatory five years, and nothing she had experienced and learned in the Wardens could explain Nedley’s behavior. His actions and justifications thereof made no sense. A death investigation involved more than one person, no matter how stretched thin they were. They also took way more than 24 hours. The idea of closing an investigation after maybe a day or two, unilaterally? Unheard of, and against every protocol that Nedley himself had taught her. The cherry on top was that he had refused the deceased’s last surviving relatives access to the body, citing an apparently nonexistent investigation. That seemed needlessly cruel, something she had never struck Nedley as. Yeah, there was definitely something fishy about this. These two women were the only lead Nicole had viable access to.

These two had obviously opted to take a road less travelled, if they took a road to Purgatory at all. They were an odd couple, Nicole mused, covered head to toe in dried mud, both very bedraggled looking, yet somehow, they both still looked really hot. 

‘Don’t be weird, they’re in mourning!’ She thought. By Erathis, she was an asshole sometimes, objectifying these poor weary travelers coming to grieve their sister. The taller one was Wynonna, Nicole remembered. She seemed to be the louder and more abrasive of the two. The shorter girl, whose name she hadn’t caught, had long brown hair and a kind face that belied a deep melancholy. Great, now instead of objectifying the grieving sisters, she was psychoanalyzing them. This was why she couldn’t get close to people, Nicole reminded herself, she couldn’t stop being a piece of shit about it. There weren’t enough laws about relationships. At least Doc didn’t mind her. 9 Hells, he was probably more of an asshole than she was. Remembering his fiasco of a relationship with Rosita, Nicole felt slightly better.

Road worn travelers were nothing new to Purgatory, being a popular stop in few major trade routes. Adventurers as well often took advantage of the cheap booze and widespread vice. The sisters were heading down a main road that led to the thoroughfare of the town. Why the Warden’s headquarters were so far away from the center of the town Nicole had no idea. The two she was following took a sharp right turn down a narrow alleyway that was darkly lit in the night, shrouded from the dim lanterns in the wider street. Curious, Nicole jogged up to close the distance. As far as she knew, that alley was one of the many dead ends that nearby businesses used to dump trash, mostly food scraps, bones, soured dairy and liquor. The smell was always a trip when she would patrol down them.

She turned the corner, and a sword hilt smashed into her nose, doubling her over instantly, blood pouring through her fingers as she clutched her face in alarm. Two sets of arms grabbed hers and dragged her further into the alley. ‘Well this is kind of a sad way to go,’ she thought to herself, trying not to panic and get ahold of herself. A razor-sharp blade pressed against her neck, forcing her up against the wall. Nicole found herself staring into Wynonna’s furious blue eyes. She put her hands up in supplication, trying very hard not to cut her own throat.

“Easy, easy. I come in peace!”

Nicole felt more than saw Wynonna’s companion relinquish her of her sword. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her hold it loosely in one hand, while raising the other, completely engulfed in golden flame, illuminating the dark alley.

Oh great, cool, a magic user. It was at times like these that Nicole resented not being inclined toward the arcane. It was always fun to be a schmuck with a sword when some nutjob threw a fireball at you. Especially a schmuck that was supposed to arrest said crazy person, preferably alive. Good times.

“Why are you following us huh? What, does Nedley want to keep us out of our own home now too?”

“What? No! wait, do you mean the Earp homestead? I mean it might still be an active crime scene, technically, in which case…”

Nicole trailed off at the look in Wynonna’s eyes.

“But this is obviously a special case! Of course you can go into the house. It’s not a big deal. I can help you investigate! If you want.”

She smiled, attempting to look helpful and non-threatening.

Wynonna’s sister put a hand on her shoulder and whispered something into her ear.

“What? No way! Why would we let her tag along?! She’s a guard!”

“Come on Wynonna, she said it herself, the homestead might be under guard, she could give us some legitimacy.”

Nicole chose not to mention that there was no way that there were enough wardens to guard crime scenes that were in the middle of nowhere.

Wynonna rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically but lowered her sword.

“What were you saying about a special case? Why won’t Nedley let us see Willa?”

Without the imminent threat of a slit throat, Nicole tried to regain some semblance of dignity by attempting to stem the steady flow of blood from her nose with her sleeve. It didn’t work very well.

“Um, I don’t really know, honestly the weirdest thing about the case is that I know nothing about it.”

“But that’s like, super weird! Death investigations take weeks at minimum. I just heard about it a couple hours ago and it was already closed! Independently by Nedley! I can help you, just let me figure out what’s going on.”

Nicole was trying to be as articulate and professional as possible, but trying to stem the torrent of blood flowing from her nose that was now cascading down her chin into her gambeson was very distracting. She spit out an alarming amount of blood that had dripped down her sinuses.

“Wynonna, did you have to break her nose? You literally have a hold person spell prepared today.”

“Oh, because I suddenly have all the spells in the world to waste on some random flatfoot.”

The younger woman stepped closer to her and reached up for her face. Nicole jerked back instinctively, gingerly protecting her nose.

“Sorry, sorry. I am a cleric, though, I can take care of that,” She gestured vaguely towards Nicole’s face. “Oh, I’m Waverly, by the way, that’s Wynonna.”

Waverly held out her hand as Nicole watched Wynonna huff and walk back out of the alley in her periphery.

“Um, Nicole.” Nicole shook the proffered hand with her left, seeing as it was marginally less covered in blood.

Waverly stepped closer, seeking consent in Nicole’s eyes. Waverly gently cupped her face and channeled a warm energy through her hands. A brief pain as her nose snapped back into place, and then Nicole noted that the bleeding had stopped.

“Wow, uh. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome!” Waverly said, more cheerful than she had heard her. She handed Nicole her sword back before following her sister. She turned back before the Main Street.

“You coming?”

Nicole hastily tried to wipe the drying blood off her face, to varying levels of success, and followed, wondering what she had gotten herself into.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CW for discussion of suicide, nothing shown, nothing graphic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm on a roll.

Waverly considered their new companion. She was tall, awkward, had a thin veneer of confidence that was plain to see was a front to anyone with even basic insight. She had not seen this stranger in Purgatory when she was growing up, and, having been quite popular at the time, found that exceedingly odd. While many people passed through Purgatory, very few who were not born here stayed very long. And from Waverly’s recollection, the few that did sought to profit off the lucrative underground drug trade here. They certainly didn’t come to be guards of all things. Perhaps she was a mole of some kind, keeping Warden Nedley away from accomplishing anything concrete in terms of enforcing the law. She was also, Waverly was loath to admit, very pretty.

Waverly was no novice when it came to endeavors of the amorous kind, both her and Wynonna enjoying the occasional fling with the marvelous array of people they encountered in their travels. Humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, orcs, tieflings; In Waverly’s experience, trysts were an excellent way to learn about the goings on of the realm from an informal perspective, which was always helpful. Not to mention it being a welcome respite from the hard life on the road. She found herself intrigued by this new woman and wondered what knowledge she could accrue from her.  
They were now on the outskirts of Purgatory, heading toward the homestead, and Wynonna had not stopped attempting to provoke the poor guard yet. Increasingly lewd comments about the stick up her ass to completely innocent inquiries wondering how her tongue wasn’t black from licking Nedley’s boots so much, just fun wholesome ribbing. Nicole, to her credit did not rise to the instigation and instead responded with interrogative questions surrounding Willa, which, Waverly supposed, was now the victim in her case. If this guard was indeed a mole from the Purgatory drug syndicate, then it was very odd that she took the risk of investigating a closed case without her superior’s permission. Was Willa involved in a drug dispute or something? She didn’t seem like the type when Waverly knew her, but that was a long time ago. Waverly knew better than most how much people could change, given enough time.

Indeed, while Wynonna was contributing little to Nicole’s knowledge of Willa, going on about how she was exceedingly arrogant, cruel, and judgmental, the guard provided some interesting insight into what their sister had been up to in their absence.

“From what Nedley has told me, Willa became something of a recluse after you two left. Wasn’t seen much in town, maybe a few sightings on the edges of the forest, but other than that, I honestly have no idea what her deal is.”

Willa? A recluse? That certainly was not what Waverly was expecting. The Willa she knew was involved in every social circle out there, legitimate or not. Honestly, she would have had a much easier time believing that she had become some kind of kingpin rather than a hermit. She shared a confused look with Wynonna.

“Well, the homesteads about a half mile out from here. Are you looking for anything in particular? When I finally got my hand on the report, it said that it was almost completely empty. No clothes, no decoration, no papers, just some furniture and her body.”

“Well, as you said yourself, Haught shot, Nedley didn’t investigate shit, did he?” Wynonna snapped back.

By the time they finally got to the homestead, the sun was cresting over the mountains. The sisters had been awake for way too long now, and their feet were dragging with each step, with bricks on their eyelids.

“Well that is a sight I’d hoped to never see again.”

The house was small, old, even more decrepit than when they had left six years ago. It looked like Willa hadn’t touched it since then. Planks were missing, shingles that had flown off in the wind hadn’t been replaced, and there was an air of eerie melancholy about the place. It had once been a successful livestock farm when their grandfather had been a young man, but when Warden Ward had taken over the farm, the barn fell into decay, fences had fallen over, and the land, once a well maintained pasture, became overgrown. The entire place looked like it had been abandoned for decades at this point.

Waverly took Wynonna’s hand and led her up the stairs, squeezing to give any semblance of comfort. Nicole trailed behind, aware of the sensitivity of this moment. As they entered, they realized that Willa had not been living here at all. A thick layer of dust had settled over what furniture there was. A small rickety table and chairs, a torn up couch, and not much else. 

“Why was she here?” Wynonna whispered.

No one felt the need to answer. What would they say, that Willa had come to see her childhood home before she killed herself? 

Waverly took in the house. Besides the obvious weathering, she noticed that there was a distinct lack of, well, anything. Like Nicole had said, there were no papers or decorations or food anywhere. As she walked further into the house, even going into her and Wynonna’s room, there was nothing there save for a bed and an empty desk. Did Willa get rid of everything in the house?

Nicole was slowly walking through the place, recounting everything she knew from the case report.

“There was no evidence of a forced entry or a struggle. All that Nedley saw when he came in here was a plate of food on the table, half eaten, a few dishes in the kitchen, and… her. There.” She pointed to a rafter. “According to his report.” She added, almost as an afterthought.

There was no food, no dishes, no noose. The scene had been scrubbed. Of course it had. Wynonna screamed in frustration and kicked the wall. The wall, completely rotted through, gave way into the early morning air outside.

“Wait!” Waverly had just remembered something. “Do you remember when Willa made me walk across the rafters in the barn?!”

Wynonna nodded confusedly. Nicole looked somewhat horrified. It was a very ramshackle looking barn.

“She caught me when I found Daddy’s secret whiskey stash in the wall! There’s a loose board there, what if there’s something in there that she left behind?”

Waverly ran to her father’s old room and pried the loose board away. It broke under barely any pressure and revealed a small crevice within the wall. Indeed, there was a small folded up piece of paper. Taking it and rushing back to her two companions, she sat at the rickety table and opened it. The two joined her, seats creaked precariously under more weight than they had held in years. Waverly carefully unfolded the paper, revealing a map of the continent. There were markings on it, lines and trails, circles around certain places. As Waverly examined it more closely, she came to a startling realization. 

“She was tracking us!” She looked at Wynonna. “Look! These lines here, that’s our trail from the last three months. These circles here, here and here, those are were we had our last big fights. There’s Colvin, were we cleared out that mine, and there’s Monument, where we protected those traders from bandits!”

“That’s were we were a week ago,” Wynonna said, pointing to a spot in the wilderness, where the line tracing their trail ended. “She was tracking us up until the day she died! Why would she kill herself if she found us? What was she trying to do?”

“She didn’t fucking kill herself.” Waverly ground out. She turned to Nicole, who had been silent this whole time, examining the map carefully. I don’t care what you think about it, but we need to get to her body. I’m a cleric, I can find out how she really died.”

“I can’t say I disagree, Miss Waverly. Problem is, the morgue is one of the few places that we actually guard all the time. I can’t get you in there without a reason, and probably not when Nedley has this case locked down as tight as he can muster.”

“If you can’t get us into your own job, then what good are you?” Wynonna spat out.

“I know I can’t get you in, but I might know some one who can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thanks for reading. I'm not an experienced pro at creative writing, so any constructive criticism you wonderful people would deign to give me is very much appreciated.


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